Variety (April 1953)

46 OKCHKS’ntAS-JHISIC pmrefr Wednesday, April 8, 1953 Inside Stuff-Musk Jim Walsh, Variety musicologist of Vinton, Va., frequently gets romiests to supply information about old songs or disks. A recent example was Eddie Cantons seeking to, identify oSl y rv h< \T heai v A i! jniRnn sine in' 191*7. Cantor disked help from ASCAP s New York office 1 Falling to identify tune, ASCAP turned to Walsh, who spotted It as “Down Where the Swapee Elver Flows, written by Charles McCarron and Al Von TiUer. and published by Broadway Music in i916. Jolson sang- number in “Robinspii Crusoe, Junior, and waxed ^ Walsh has also supplied Disk Jock Jack Garrett of WQBC, Vicks- burg Miss, with 1911 Victor platter of tune by Ballard Macdonald and g, Ray Walker, “Mississippi Dippy Gwrett ■^ be able to set number off on another popularity kick in sta ^ e *® r which it was named and perhaps make it a sort of unofficial Missis- sippi “national anthem.” 9 Trade speculation as to whether Julius LaRosa “can do it again” has been aroused by the crooner’s decision to cut The Lady Wants To Dance”-for his next indie Cadence label release. LaRosa broke into the bigtime several months ago with his preem disk. Anywhere I Wander.” Swift takeoff of the LaRosa version surprised the music biz hepsters since the tune never got off the ground with a previous slicing by such a potent disker as Tony Bennett on the Columbia label. LaRosa’s .‘'Wander” platter passed the 500,000 mark, a phenom- enal sales score for an indie first. ... The “can LaRosa do it again” query is sparked by the fact that “Lady Wants To Dance” was cut by Perry Como for RCA .Victor last year and didn’t attract much attention. t “An Onion And You,” tube written by Greenwich Village, N. Y., grocery clerk Alex James in 1947, is getting a second chance to break through via a Betty Clooney etching on the indie Round label. The disk, incidentally, was etched before Miss Clooney became a Coral Records’ pactee. Initial waxing of the tune was made independently by James in 1949 but it never got off the ground. At the time the song received an extensive plugging campaign via the chalking of its title on midtown street comers and subway stairways. Tune has since been rewritten and is being published by Adventure Music, a BMI affiliate, operated by Bill Buchanan. Buchanan also owns the Round label. . Vet Cleffer, Henry I. Marshall has always had a flair for personal promotion. Marshall recently moved into a new home at Scotch Plains, New Jersey, and got permission from the post office to give his address as 515 Bumble Bee Lane, thus capitalizing on the titles of two of his biggest song hits—“Qn the 5:15” (written in 1915) and “Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee” (1912). Marshall did music to both with words by late Stanley Murphy. “Bumble Bee” ditty appears headed for revival, sung in Warner Brothers’ film, “By the Light of the Silvery Moon,” by Doris Day, Gordon MacBae and Leon Ames. Piece has also been plattered by Miss. Day for Columbia and MacRae for Capitol. •i Eddie Fisher, who makes initial appearance since coming out of the Army at the Paramount, N. Y., Friday (10), is getting the benefits of a four-way publicity spread via his video-disk affiliations. Steve Hann&gan Associates is handling him for the ,Coc%-Cola show along with NBC-TV’s press department. OA disks, RCA Victor is doing a big Fisher promotion along’with indie publicist Gene Weber. Fisher is already set for coverage by several national mags, in- ‘ eluding Newsweek, Red Book and American Weekly. ' * --u . The recent one-day cuffo appearance in London of Norman Granz’s “Jazz at the Philharmonic show” has had friendly repercussions with Ted Heath, Britain's leading bandleader, offering the services of his 16-piece band to play free of charge in New York for any charity the. ■^American federation of Musicians care to name. Problem that will confront the band, if the AFM okays the project, is the cost . of transporting it, with three vocalists, back and forth. * , Variety’s recent detailing of the coin received by top writers from the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers in 1952 inadvertently omitted the income of Harry Warren. Warren, a Coast cleffer whose credits include numerous' film score hits, is in the same ASCAP bracket with Oscar Hammerstein 2d, Richard Rodgers, and Ira Gershwin and received between $40,000 and $44,000 last year from the Society. s Video’s impact on disk sales is now clearly reflected in the sharp pickup of Burl Ives’ “The Riddle Song” after a couple of plugs re- cently on the NBC-TV juve show, “Ding Dong School.” Tune was released about four months ago by Decca with little action. The video plugs, however, stirred an immediate reaction on the dealer leyel via kiddie purchases. t—' : :— It's Ma>Ic by JESSE GREER Program Today Tostorda/t ON THE BEACH WITH YOU WORDS & MUSIC. INC. (1619 Broadway, Now York) Joe Martin Exits' Disk Industry Assn. Joe Martin has exited the public relations post of the Record Indus- try Assn, of America. Martin joined the RIAA last year and helped promote such RIAA spon sored events as the Hartford Music Festival. According to John W. Griffin, org’s exec secretary, pro- motion men will be hired now only for RIAA’s special events. Martin had a one-year deal with RIAA. Another BMI "Pin lip" Hit anna Published by Hollis ■ RECORDS Silvaita Manqano Roul W.ston. • • jMGU) Th. Thr*. Suns “ • (Columbia) Dick Hayman ..." * - lectori My Bfoch . * • • • 'Mercury) Al Cafola .. / * Coral) LJ ^ • (Victor) Bl BW?ABC " T M«WK!,Iw. h.w ** L r * M * <H, «« • HtUIMM . N.r* 70**110 • WONMIAI Songs The top 30 songs of week (more in case of ties), based on copyrighted .Audience Coverage Index & Audience Trend Index • Published by Office of Research , Inc., Dr. John Gray Peatman, Director , Alphabetically listed. Survey Week of March 27-ApriI 2, 1953 A Fool Such AS I Robbins-M \ Anywhere I Wander—t“Hans Christian Andersen”.. Frank April In Portugal Chappell Caravan American Doggie In The Window Santly-J Downhearted • Paxton Even Now Pickwick Golden Years—f'Houdini” Paramount Have You Heard Brandom Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me Mills Hot Toddy Coachella How Do You Speak To An Angel—* “Hazel Flagg”.. Chappell I Believe i .. T Cromwell . I Confess : .Witmark Kaw-Liga Mjlene « Keep It A Secret Shaplro-B My Jealous Eyes ..... a Fa:mous Ohio—*“Wonderful Town” • Chappell Open Up Your Heart * • Longridge Peter Cottontail * Hill & R Pretend Brandom Say It With Your Heart Feist Say Si Si Marks Side By Side Shapiro-B Tell Me You’re Mine • <*.Capn Till I Waltz Again With You Village Why Don’t You Believe ]V[e * Brandom Wild Horses Simon Will-O’-The-Wisp Romanco-; T r ia il g i e Your Cheatin' Heart '. Acuff-R Second Group Because You’re Mine—t“Because You’re Mine” Don’t Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes Ecstasy Tango Gomen Nasal Hush-A-Bye—t“Th rt Jazz Singer” I’ll Be Hangin’ Around Lady Of Spain Life Was Beautiful Mister Tap Toe ... Nearness Of You No Help Wanted Oh Happy Day Ruby—t “Ruby Gentry” Say It Isn’t So , Second Star To The Right—t“Peter Pan” Small World r*. Song From Moulin Rouge— J < - “Moulin Rouge” Sweet Thing This Is A Very Special Day—-“The Jazz Singer”.. Thumbelina—t“Hans Christion' Andersen” Wish You Were Here—*“Wish You Were Here” You Belong To Me . . v.. lilt Feist Four-Star Jefferson Disney Remick Broadcast Fox Pops Montclare Famous Acuff-R BVC Miller Berlin Disney Harman Broadcast Hill & R Remick Frank -■ Chappell Ridgeway Top 10 .Songs On TV ( More in Case of Ties ) Doggie la The Window ......... :.... v Santly-J Easter In Waikiki Duet How Do You Speak To An Angel Chappell I Believe ... . . . . Cromwell It’s Love Chappell Lady Of Spain : Fox Peter Cottontail Hill & R Pretend .... .v. Brandom Side By Side Shapiro-B Wish You Were. Here ,,,, , Chappell Five Top Standards (More In Case of Ties) April Showers i Harms Blue Skies Berlin Easter Parade ... Berlin Getting To Know You Williamson Life Is A Beautiful Thing Famous r .t Filmusical. ' ’ •' Legit musical. SULUVAN, JESSEL .• FETED BY ASCAP Ed Sullivan ahd George Jessel were the honor guests at the an- nual* dinner of the American Soci- ety of Comppsers, Authors & Pub- lishers at the Hotel Astor last night (Tues.). Sullivan, whose CBS-TV “Toast of the Town” show presented a two-part toast to ASCAP last fall, was presented with a clock while Jessel was given a plaque by L. Wolfe Gilbert in behalf of the Coast writers. Jessel emceed the ASCAP show with Red Buttons, Jarmila Novotna and Cecil & Blake on the after- dinner bill. ASCAP’s Peak Bob Weiss'Tours Cap Film in O’seas Bally London, April 7. Robert B. Weiss, European rep- resentative of Capitol Records, flew in from his Paris base last week to launch a sales promotion drive, having as its focus a 16m Kodachrome sound-movie, “Wanna Buy A Record?,” produced by Cap execs. First showing of the 40- minute opus was to members^ of the national and trade press last' week, followed by another shop to 1,000 record-dealers. Similar promotion screenings are scheduled for Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, New- castle, etc., with an Irish tour in the summer. Pic has already played round Europe, and is being given French and German subtitles to enable it to be publicly shown In the newsreel-theatres in Ger- iMnany, Switzerland and elsewhere. . The Stuttgart Chamber Ordies- tra, consisting of 16 musicians, is due.in New York today (Wed.) on the S.S. America, for a concert tour of Puerto Rico and South America. Mills Inks Sherrell As Disker-Cleffer Hollywood, ApriT 7. Pony Sherrell, former member of the team of the Sherrell Sisters & Gene Austin, inked an exclusive writing pact with Irving Mills of the Coast .office of Mills Music. Miss Sherrell, who has been writ ing in collaboration withf^Phil Moody, arranger-conductor^whp has done picture work in England, was also signed to a record $eal by Mills for its American Records label. Mills plans to out eight sides, all original material, by the singer- writer, and fifst coupling will he released sometime next month. ss Continued from page 1 gives the latter a quasi-official status. Hoffman disclosed that ASCAP distributed last November $390,000 in royalties from broadcasting in England and Canada during 1951, Last month the Society mailed check's to members totaling $776,- 300, representing foreign royalties A Dull Fastie Pinky Herman, perennial dissident ASCAP rank-and- filer, didn’t speak at org’s annual conclave yesterday (Tues.). Hence the meet was dull but fast. Big laugh at the sesh was nabbed by a new writer-mem- ber who advocated that the meihbers assume a family-like attitude and “get to know everybody.” He said in all seri- ousness, “I’d like to know any publisher better.” Composer- conductor Lazare Saminsky got his pitch in with, “A good symphony is worth lots more than ‘Yes, We Have No Bananas.’ ” P. S.—Saminsky is a longhair. from Argentina, Australia, Bel- gium, France, Italy, Norway, Swe- den, Uruguay and England. Prexy Otto A. Harbach’s address to the membership underlined the “beautiful calm” in ASCAP opera- tions since the new payoff plans for writers and publishers . went into effect last year. The rank-and- file dissidents have virtually dis- appeared. Harbach also spotlighted ASCAP’s support Qf various legis- lative efforts to amend the Copy- right Act to permit licensing of- jukeboxes for performance fee6. (Another story in music might tend to refute this alleged “calm”; certain writers deprecate the pres- ent logging technique). Hal.Cook to Coast Hal B. Cook, Capitol Records* veepee national sales manager, headed for the Coast last week (3) for a series of confabs with the diskery brass there. En route, Cook will, huddle with Cap managers in branch office cities. FOR MOTHER S DAY PROGRAMMING' MOTHER S A EVES LEO FEIST. INC. Naw! UnforgatfoblaJ ‘‘THAT’S WHAT YOU USED TO SAY” A tindir, haunting ballad MABEL BUGH MINSON Pub. Co. (BMI) 2294 44th Avo. Son Francisco, Calif. America's Fastest “ Selling Records! I